The NABU and the SAPO charge former Centrenergo PJSC employees and the director of a private company with abuse of official position and forgery in office, which caused the state company to unlawfully overpay UAH 8.25 million for natural gas.

Those charged include:

• two former Centrenergo board members, Oleksandr Uvarov and Yaroslav Hromko;
• Volodymyr Melnychuk, head of one of Centrenergo's departments;
• Andrii Korotkevych-Leshchenko, director of United Energy LLC.

Their actions were classified under Article 364(2) and Article 366(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Uvarov is evading the pretrial investigation and the court. Back on August 25, 2022, the NABU announced that he was wanted in another case concerning the misappropriation of Centrenergo's funds. Special judicial proceedings (in absentia) are currently underway in respect of Uvarov.

The essence of the scheme

According to the circumstances established by the prosecution, in November 2019 Centrenergo PJSC concluded a gas supply contract with a private company, and in May 2020 it made an advance payment for the contracted volume of gas for June 2020. However, gas was delivered for only part of the prepayment, and the debt that arose to Centrenergo was offset by raising the price of the gas actually delivered, through the forgery of official documents.

As a result, Centrenergo sustained losses of over UAH 8.25 million.

The trial

Andrii Korotkevych-Leshchenko, director of United Energy LLC, entered a plea agreement with a SAPO prosecutor. He fully admitted his guilt regarding the circumstances of this case and of another concerning the causing of over UAH 176 million in losses to Centrenergo through the non-application of penalties. On December 30, 2025, the HACC approved this agreement. The court sentenced him to five years' imprisonment, with a three-year ban on holding certain positions and a fine of UAH 17,000. On the basis of Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the court released him from serving the main sentence, with a one-year probationary period. In addition, Andrii Korotkevych-Leshchenko undertook to transfer a charitable donation of UAH 2 million for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the account of the Come Back Alive Charitable Foundation.

On July 2, 2026, the HACC approved a plea agreement between a SAPO prosecutor and Volodymyr Melnychuk, former head of the relevant department of Centrenergo. The court sentenced him to three years' imprisonment with a one-year probationary period. In addition, the convicted man was fined UAH 8,500 and banned for one year from holding managerial positions in government bodies, at state enterprises, and in municipal institutions.